GENET, Jean.

Lot 1371
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Estimation :
60000 - 80000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 114 400EUR
GENET, Jean.
The Miracle of the Rose. [1944]. Partially autograph corrected typescript mounted on tabs in a folio volume: modern unbleached cloth, slipcase. "Of Miracle of the Rose, the only one of his novels whose publication was not clandestine, Genet said: 'This book is the best of my heart. Written in 1943 in the prisons of La Santé and Tourelles, when he was under the double threat of perpetual relegation and deportation, Miracle of the Rose braids two originally distinct narratives: one based on his childhood memories of the Mettray Colony, the other exalting 'the marvelous adventure of the last forty-five days of a man condemned to death'. At the same time book of memory and funeral song, retrospection and projection, testimony and affabulation, Miracle of the Rose is presented as an autobiographical poem and a testamentary fiction: attempt of recapitulation and transfiguration of a life, ultimate attempt of a prisoner to institute himself, by the writing, master of his destiny. But even more than its singularity, this work draws its essential strength from having been able to make heard, within a work of the highest literary quality, written in an incomparably learned and refined language, an irreconcilable, brutal voice, of an extreme nakedness: that of the "Children of Misfortune" [...in whose name Genet speaks solitarily" (Albert Dichy in En français dans le texte, BN, 1990, nº 390). Important typescript corrected by Jean Genet, with 133 pages or autograph slips inserted, having belonged to Paul Morihien, the first intended publisher of the novel: the only known typescript, it offers a complete version of the story. The set consists of: - 261 typed pages (of three different typesets), with multiple numbering: [1]-32, 1-64, [65-84], 1-145 - 35 entirely autograph pages, 10 of which with additions written on the back, on small in-4 schoolbook leaves, numbered 47-85 (clean-up of the text corresponding to pages 325-400 of the Pléiade edition, 2021) - 98 autograph additions - "becquets" -, numbered or lettered, on leaves of various sizes. Of the two hundred and sixty-one typewritten sheets, about thirty bear no corrections; all the others show modifications, some in pencil, ranging from the location of a comma to several lines crossed out or added, in addition to the becquets mounted opposite the sheets, with an indication where to place the additions. Many of the crossed-out or altered words remain legible. The only real difference between this set and the final version is the absence of songs composed by the inmates of Fontevraud [or Fontevrault according to the author's spelling], Genet having indicated twice on the corresponding autograph sheet: "leave 10 lines blank." There are also tiny variations: a sentence indicated in brackets or a word underlined, will no longer be so. The state of this version between manuscript and typing has been perfectly described in the critical apparatus established by Emmanuelle Lambert and Gilles Philippe in the recent Pléiade edition of the Romans et Poèmes. The set is preceded by : - Autograph letter signed to Paul Morihien, sending him "half of the manuscript. [...] do not tell Denoël that I gave it to you. You'll get the rest later." He also announces some photos of Mettray and Fontevraud. On the back, written in pencil, the instructions for the notes and corrections added to the typing (2 pages in-4). On March 1, 1943, Genet had signed a contract with Paul Morihien, associated with Robert Denoël, for the delivery of three novels: Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs, le Journal du voleur and Les Enfants du malheur (provisional title of Le Miracle de la rose), but he finally entrusted Barbezat with the publication of Le Miracle de la rose. - Typed title sheet, with the mention "première partie" crossed out and another mention redacted (illegible), dated 1943-44. - Print of the portrait of Genet by Brassaï (1948), mounted on cardboard (28,5 x 20 cm). - False-title sheet with the same date of composition (date preceded by a redacted mention), and a dedication to Guy N. [Lucien known as Guy Noppé, his cellmate at the Santé prison and who had been, a few months after Genet's departure, sent to the Mettray prison, one of the models for the character of Bulkaen]. Begun in early 1943, continued during his incarcerations at the Santé prison and then at the Tourelles camp, and finally completed in the spring of 1944, in the months following his final release, Le Miracle de la Rose is Genet's second novel, the printing of which was completed by the publisher L'Arbalète on March 30, 1946. It was printed in 475 copies reserved for subscribers only, one year after the publication of the first two books.
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